Category Archives: Arty Stuff

Fringe Arts Bath

Lots happening in Bath from tomorrow with this huge arts festival. I’ll be there on Saturday the 23rd with three fellow artists. We’re The Plebeian Scribblers and we’re doing an intervention on Union Street throughout the afternoon along with loads of other live art performers. Fringe Arts Bath.

Suzanne Valadon Screen

  I’ve been away in Denmark for a week, visiting some dear friends, one of whom is a fellow printmaker. It was lovely to get away and just be a tourist. I deliberately left my diary behind (I still keep a paper one, not electronic) and I didn’t even do any scribbling. Just chilled out.Continue reading “Suzanne Valadon Screen”

Reclaimed

Some time ago I bought some second hand silkscreens. They had photochemical stencils on them and needed to be cleaned so that I can re-use them. They had been originally coated with Speedball Diazo photoscreen emulsion so I had to use Speedball’s remover. I poured a little remover onto one side and quickly spread itContinue reading “Reclaimed”

Screening Paula and Käthe

I carried on preparing my silkscreen of portraits of two of my favourite artists, Paula Mödersohn-Becker and Käthe Kollwitz. Yesterday I painted the images onto a silkscreen using Speedball Diazo Drawing Fluid and a small sable brush. I let it dry overnight and today I applied the Diazo Filler Solution. I dribbled a little onto the screen (layingContinue reading “Screening Paula and Käthe”

Paula and Käthe

Something different today. I’m working on a silkscreen, planning a series of small screenprints based on my favourite artists. Here are the first two: Paula Mödersohn-Becker and Käthe Kollwitz, both active in the late 19th and early 20th century. I did some drawings based on photographs of the two artists, drew them onto the screen in pencil andContinue reading “Paula and Käthe”

Six Minutes

Today’s sketch is purely practice. I googled ‘elderly women heads images’, chose one and sketched it in graphite into my A5 hardbacked sketchbook with a time limit of 6 minutes. This forces me to focus on the most relevant aspects of the face, how little I need to draw to get a reasonable image andContinue reading “Six Minutes”

Ugly, Lovely, Bonkers

I worked on a collaborative project with fellow artist, Melanie Ezra recently. It’s an artist map, one of a series of twelve designed by artists across the country. We have chosen our own quirky route through Swansea’s city centre, pointing out the little idiosyncrasies that interest us and illustrating the walk with our artwork. Swansea isContinue reading “Ugly, Lovely, Bonkers”

Evil Foreshortening (Female Nude)

Just back from life drawing at Swansea Print Workshop. I had a choice of where to sit so, thinking aloud I said, “Shall I sit side on to draw an easier pose or shall I sit front on and do the really nasty foreshortening?” My sadistic fellow artists said, as one, “Front on! Do theContinue reading “Evil Foreshortening (Female Nude)”